MANY know the old joke that watching washing tumble around in a machine can be more entertaining than what is on TV – but they are about to find out if it is true.

Footage of a washing machine’s cycle is set to fill an entire prime time advertisement break, it emerged today.

Electronics giant Samsung says its unique three minutes and thirty seconds of uninterrupted footage of a family wash during Channel 4 hit Gogglebox will “mesmerise” millions of viewers on Friday night.

The self-styled ‘cult’ commercial - the longest ever single shot advert ever aired in the UK - is intended to highlight how Brits let their lives drift by waiting to complete everyday household tasks.

Research from the firm found the average Brit wastes 88,904 minutes of their life - 62 days - watching their washing go round and round.

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In the time wasted waiting for their laundry, they could instead learn a musical instrument like the piano to Grade 5 or become fluent in a foreign language, researchers explained.

While each individual household wait may be only a matter of minutes, the cumulative loss amounts to huge chunks of time, researchers led by leading statistician Dr Geoff Ellis found.

By surveying 2,000 UK adults about their weekly waits they discovered that we typically lose 312 hours - 13 whole days - per year waiting for things to finish in the home.

It all adds up to an astonishing 820 days - or two and a quarter years - of waiting over a lifetime.

The worst waits across a lifetime are for phones to charge (135 days) and post to arrive (85 days), they found.

Mark Seaman, Samsung’s head of domestic appliances, said: “It is eye-opening to see how much of our lives slip down the drain as we hang around waiting for things to finish around the home.

“QuickDrive is the fastest and smartest Samsung washing machine ever made and this commercial shines a spotlight on the performance of the machine itself to create a mesmerising spectacle where art meets technology."

Pete Clark, Channel 4’s agency principal, said: “Dedicating an entire ad break to showcasing nothing but the new QuickDrive in action will deliver good clean entertainment for Channel 4 viewers.”

Other areas we waste lit time include being kept on hold on the phone (57 days), computer and phone updates (54 days), ovens heating (45 days), tumble driers finishing (44 days) and water boiling (41 days) are also tedious time-wasters.

SAMSUNG

Samsung's washing machine advert will air during Channel 4's Gogglebox

Other dull, domestic waits include for heating or air con to come on (30 days), Wi-Fi to connect, the boiler to heat water (each 29 days), toilet cisterns to re-fill (27 days), mirrors to demist (21 days) and toast to pop up (20 days).

Brits are most bored of being kept on hold on the phone, cited by 39 per cent of the 2,000 adults surveyed.

Next come computer or phone updates (35 per cent), followed by waiting for kettles to boil (32 per cent).

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Almost as irritating are the waits for ovens to reach the right temperature (26 per cent); microwaves to ping (25 per cent); phones to charge (25 per cent) and washing machine cycles to finish (22 per cent).

Completing the top ten pet hate waits are toasters and baths (each 21 per cent) and the arrival of post (20 per cent).

The research was commissioned to mark the launch of the SamsungQuickDrive, which completes its wash cycle in just 66 minutes - freeing up precious time.

Friday’s arresting ad features the new machine while displaying the hashtag #LifesTooShort.